10 game scanning

10 — Game Scanning

Automatic detection of games from modern PC storefronts. Related: 07 — Core Services · 11 — Bundled Tools

Platform note: storefront scanning reads the Windows registry and storefront install databases, so it only works on Windows. On Linux/macOS the Avalonia app returns an empty result, hides the Scan for Microsoft Windows games menu item, and skips the first-run scan (it goes straight to the Easy Mode prompt); the click handler and the scanners are guarded too, so even a programmatic invocation is a no-op (LB-22). A Linux-native game scanner would be a separate engine.

Orchestration (GameScannerService)

SimpleLauncher\Services\GameScan\GameScannerService.cs

• ScanForStoreGamesAsync (:77-97): ensures the "Microsoft Windows" system exists (roms\Microsoft Windows + images; FileFormatsToSearch = url, lnk, bat; existing system paths reused — :99-170), then runs all scanners in parallel (Task.WhenAll, :87-89).
• IgnoredGameNames (:28-41): Steamworks Common Redistributables, Unreal Engine, Fab UE Plugin, Quixel Bridge, DirectX, Google Earth VR, Spacewar, PC Health Check, Rockstar Games Launcher, Battle.net, Ubisoft Connect.
• Image handling: TryDownloadImageFromApiAsync (:180-258, GameImageClient, 2 attempts with 5 s retry), FindAndSaveGameImageAsync (:269-293), ExtractIconFromGameFolderAsync (:303-332), FindMainExecutable heuristics (:334-379: name match → contains → largest non-setup/launcher/unins exe), TryGetExeFiles (:381-399, returns null instead of throwing when the folder vanished between the Directory.Exists check and enumeration — Microsoft Store WindowsApps race).
• Interface: IGamePlatformScanner.ScanAsync(GameScannerService, ILogger, windowsRomsPath, windowsImagesPath, ignoredGameNames) — single method, one class per storefront.

The 11 scanners (Services\GameScan\)

Scanner	Data source	Output
ScanAmazonGames	SQLite %LOCALAPPDATA%\Amazon Games\Data\Games\Sql\GameInstallInfo.sqlite (read-only)	.url → amazon-games://play/{id}
ScanBattleNetGames	registry uninstall keys, UID regex Battle.net.*--uid=(.*?), BNetAppDef InternalId→name map	.url → battlenet://{uid}; classics get .bat launching the exe
ScanEaGames	registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Electronic Arts\EA Core\Installed Games + game-classification API (GameClassificationClient → api/GameIdentification/IsAGame, same as Microsoft Store)	.url → origin2://game/launch?offerIds={contentId} (only confirmed games)
ScanEpicGames	JSON LauncherInstalled.dat (preferred) or Manifests\*.item fallback; filters UE_/Falcon/plugins/editors/engines/DLC	.url → com.epicgames.launcher://apps/{app}?action=launch&silent=true
ScanGogGames	registry uninstall keys (Publisher GOG.com); DLC via goggame-{id}.info JSON RootGameId	.bat launching primary PlayTasks FileTask exe
ScanHumbleGames	JSON %APPDATA%\Humble App\config.json → game-collection-4	.url → humble://launch/{machineName}
ScanItchioGames	itch apps folder + .itch.toml [[actions]]; pretty name from exe ProductName	.bat launching first action exe
ScanMicrosoftStoreGames	PowerShell Get-StartApps/Get-AppxPackage (30 s timeout) + game-classification API; logo extraction	.bat → start "" "shell:AppsFolder\{AppId}"
ScanRockstarGames	registry uninstall regex + RockstarGameDef TitleId map	.url → rockstargames://launch/{titleId}
ScanSteamGames	registry SteamPath + libraryfolders.vdf (ISteamVdfParser) + appmanifest_*.acf + sourcemods\gameinfo.txt	.url → steam://run/{appId}; mods steam://run/{baseAppId}//-game "{mod}"; copies Steam artwork
ScanUplayGames	registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\Ubisoft\Launcher\Installs (32 & 64-bit views)	.url → uplay://launch/{gameId}

Icon extraction

IconExtractor (Services\GameScan\IconExtractor.cs): P/Invoke icon extraction → PNG files for store-game shortcuts (used when the cover API has no image).

Related docs

• 01 — Overview (feature list)
• 07 — Core Services
• ManualTests.md §9 — manual verification checklist for the scanners